TY - JOUR
T1 - High-contrast Imaging with Fizeau Interferometry
T2 - The Case of Altair
AU - Spalding, E.
AU - Morzinski, K. M.
AU - Hinz, P.
AU - Males, J.
AU - Meyer, M.
AU - Quanz, S. P.
AU - Leisenring, J.
AU - Power, J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the . Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) https://doi.org/10.13039/100000104 UNSPECIFIED National Science Foundation (NSF) https://doi.org/10.13039/100000001 0705296 Ed and Jill Bessey Scholarship in Astrobiology UNSPECIFIED National Science Foundation (NSF) https://doi.org/10.13039/100000001 1920180 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) https://doi.org/10.13039/100000104 NNX16AD44G National Science Foundation (NSF) https://doi.org/10.13039/100000001 DBI-0735191 Ministerio de Econom�a, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de Espa�a (MINECO) https://doi.org/10.13039/501100010198 AYA2017-84089 Swiss National Science Foundation UNSPECIFIED yes � 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society..
PY - 2022/2/1
Y1 - 2022/2/1
N2 - The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) has two 8.4 m primary mirrors that produce beams that can be combined coherently in a "Fizeau"interferometric mode. In principle, the Fizeau point-spread function (PSF) enables the probing of structure at a resolution up to three times better than that of the adaptive-optics-corrected PSF of a single 8.4 m telescope. In this work, we examined the nearby star Altair (5.13 pc, type A7V, hundreds of Myr to ≈1.4 Gyr) in the Fizeau mode with the LBT at Brα (4.05 μm) and carried out angular differential imaging to search for companions. This work presents the first filled-aperture LBT Fizeau science data set to benefit from a correcting mirror that provides active phase control. In the analysis of the λ/D angular regime, the sensitivity of the data set is down to ≈0.5 M o˙ at 1″ for a 1.0 Gyr system. This sensitivity remains limited by the small amount of integration time, which is in turn limited by the instability of the Fizeau PSF. However, in the Fizeau fringe regime we attain sensitivities of Δm ≈ 5 at 0.″2 and put constraints on companions of 1.3 M o˙ down to an inner angle of ≈0.″15, closer than any previously published direct imaging of Altair. This analysis is a pathfinder for future data sets of this type, and represents some of the first steps to unlocking the potential of the first Extremely Large Telescope. Fizeau observations will be able to reach dimmer targets with upgrades to the instrument, in particular the phase detector.
AB - The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) has two 8.4 m primary mirrors that produce beams that can be combined coherently in a "Fizeau"interferometric mode. In principle, the Fizeau point-spread function (PSF) enables the probing of structure at a resolution up to three times better than that of the adaptive-optics-corrected PSF of a single 8.4 m telescope. In this work, we examined the nearby star Altair (5.13 pc, type A7V, hundreds of Myr to ≈1.4 Gyr) in the Fizeau mode with the LBT at Brα (4.05 μm) and carried out angular differential imaging to search for companions. This work presents the first filled-aperture LBT Fizeau science data set to benefit from a correcting mirror that provides active phase control. In the analysis of the λ/D angular regime, the sensitivity of the data set is down to ≈0.5 M o˙ at 1″ for a 1.0 Gyr system. This sensitivity remains limited by the small amount of integration time, which is in turn limited by the instability of the Fizeau PSF. However, in the Fizeau fringe regime we attain sensitivities of Δm ≈ 5 at 0.″2 and put constraints on companions of 1.3 M o˙ down to an inner angle of ≈0.″15, closer than any previously published direct imaging of Altair. This analysis is a pathfinder for future data sets of this type, and represents some of the first steps to unlocking the potential of the first Extremely Large Telescope. Fizeau observations will be able to reach dimmer targets with upgrades to the instrument, in particular the phase detector.
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U2 - 10.3847/1538-3881/ac3b5b
DO - 10.3847/1538-3881/ac3b5b
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85123701945
VL - 163
JO - Astronomical Journal
JF - Astronomical Journal
SN - 0004-6256
IS - 2
M1 - 62
ER -